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Lecture 1
Lecture 1
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION OF PRESCRIPTION
PARTS OF PRESCRIPTION
TYPES OF PRESCRIPTION
LEGAL REQUIREMENT FOR VALID PRESCRIPTION
HANDLING OF PRESCRIPTION
ERROR IN PRESCRIPTION
ABRIVIATIONS
INTRODUCTION
It is an order by a physician, dentist,
written
veterinarian or a registered medical practitioner
(RMP) to a pharmacist to compound and dispense a
specific drug for the patient. OR
Prescription is a written order for medication, issued
by physician or RMP. Prescription is relationship
between physician and pharmacist.
Physician (RMP) Pharmacist patients
Cont…
The word "prescription" is derived from the Latin
term praescriptus.
(Prae - 'before' and scribere- meaning 'to write').
Prescription means 'to write before' which means
prescription had to be written before a drug could be
compounded and administered to a patient.
PARTS OF A
PRESCRIPTION
A typical prescription consists of the following parts:
1. Prescriber office information
2. Date
3. Patient information (Name, Age, Sex And Address Of The
Patient)
4. Superscription (symbol ℞)
5. Inscription (Medication prescribed)- Main part of prescription
6. Subscription(Direction to Pharmacist/Dispenser )
7. Signatura or Transcription (Direction for Patient)
8. Renewal instructions
9. Prescriber’s signature and registration number.
1.Physician (Prescriber) office Information:
Information about physician is essential so that the patient
could be contact in emergency. Following information is
mentioned on the prescription
i. Doctor's or office name.
ii. Address with phone number and e-mail.
iii. Prescription number, (required calling the
when
pharmacy for a refill)
2. Date
It helps a pharmacist to find out the date of
prescribing.
It also helps in know when the medicines were last
dispensed if the prescription is brought for
redispens.
In case of habit forming drug the date prevents
the misuse of the drug by the patient
3. Patient information
PATIENT INFORMATION (Name, Age, Sex and
Address of the Patient)
Name and address of the patient for identification
purpose.
Age and sex of the patient is required for child
patient to check the prescribed dose.
4. SUPERSCRIPTION (symbol ℞)
It is represented by ℞ (Latin term)
„recipe‟ which means „take thou‟ or „you take‟.
In olden days, the symbol was
considered to be originated from the sign of
Jupiter.
Jupiter is the Greek God of healing.
This symbol was use for requesting God for the quick
recovery of the patient.
5. INSCRIPTION (Medication prescribed)
It is the main part of the prescription.
It contains the names and quantities of the prescribed
medicaments.
The medicament may be official preparation or nonofficial
preparation.
a.) Official preparation (i.e. from pharmacopoeia) – Only
name of the preparation is written E.g. Piperazine Citrate
Elixir IP
b.) Nonofficial preparation- Quantity of each ingredient
will be given and type of preparation will also be given
6. SUBSCRIPTION (Direction to Pharmacist)
forming drugs.
example
TYPES OF PRESCRIPTION
Prescriptions can be classified as
a) Compounded prescription
b) Noncompounded prescription
a). Compounded prescription-
Also known as extemporaneous prescription.
It is an order that requires mixing
of one or more ingredients (active
medicaments).
It contains several ingredients which
are divided into the following parts:
(a) Base: The active medicaments (Produce
the therapeutic effect).
(b) Additives-1) It enhances the action of the drug.
Cont…
2) It makes the preparation more elegant (attractive)
and palatable.
(c) Vehicle: It is the main carrier of the drug. E.g. -In
liquid preparations solvent (water) used as vehicle.
Now a day’s compounding is omitted from
prescription.
E.g. Sodium bicarbonate -3g
Simple Syrup -6ml
Purified Water (q.s.)-
100ml
b).Non-compounded
prescription
Does not require compounding of
pharmaceutical
product.
proprietary name.
Legal Requirements for a Valid Prescription
1.The prescription must be carried with the pharmacist while taking the
medicine out of the shelves.
2.The dispensing balance should always be checked before weighing any
ingredient.
3.All the chemicals should be replaced back in to their original positions in the
shelf.
4.Care should be taken to keep the balance clean after each measurement.
5.Liquid preparations for external use the label must display FOR EXTERNAL
USE ONLY in red ink
6.Before handing over the medicine to the patient, again the preparation should
be checked.
1.
Abbreviation
In most of the prescriptions abbreviated terms are used
by the prescriber that leads to major errors during
interpretation by the pharmacists. E.g. „SSKI‟ is the
abbreviated term of „Saturated Solution of Potassium
Iodide‟.
It is preferable to avoid these types of misleading
abbreviations.
2. Name of the drugs
Names of some drugs (especially the brand
names) either look or sound alike. So any error
in the name of a drug will lead to major
danger to the patient. e.g. Althrocin –
Eltroxin, Acidin
– Apidin , Digoxin- Digitoxin etc.
3. Strength of the preparation
Drugs are available in the market in various strengths.
So a drug must not be dispensed if the strength is not
written in the prescription. E.g. Paracetamol tablet
500mg should not be dispensed when no strength is
mentioned in the prescription.
Cont…
2. The strength of the medicine-
The strength of the active ingredient in the
preparation must be displayed if it is intended for
internal (oral) purpose. The amount in each unit of
dose should be mentioned.
e.g. In case of oral liquids “Each 5ml contains
250mg”
e.g. In case of tablet “Each tablet contains 500mg”.
4. Communication failure
Failures during the process of patient management -
Includes illegible handwriting, incomplete
prescribing order. Common errors include: „g‟
mistaken for „mg‟
5.Dosage form of the drug prescribed